1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a mechanism for applying glue or adhesives, and in particular to an automatic gluing mechanism.
2. The Related Arts
A conventional glue application mechanism comprises a power device that drives the glue application mechanism to move in a vertical direction, a mounting member that is coupled to the power device, a rail that is perpendicularly mounted to the mounting member, two slide blocks slidably attached to the rail, a driving device that drives the slide blocks to slide along the rail, and two glue application tubes that are respectively mounted to the two slide blocks.
The conventional glue application mechanism is operated as follows. The power device first drives the glue application mechanism to move in the vertical direction. When the glue application mechanism reaches a predetermined vertical location where a work piece to which glue is to be applied is located, the power device stops driving the vertical movement of the glue application mechanism. Afterwards, the driving device drives the two slide blocks to slide along the rail so that the two glue application tubes are caused to move in a horizontal direction. When the two glue application tubes are moved to such locations where the glue application tubes engage opposite sides of the work piece, the two glue application tubes dispense glue to the work piece to complete a cycle of glue application.
Disadvantages are found in the conventional glue application mechanism. For example, the vertical movement of the glue application tubes is controlled by the power device, while the horizontal movement is controlled by a separate driving device. This complicates the structure of the conventional glue application mechanism, making the manufacturing cost high. In addition, the glue application operation performed by the conventional glue application mechanism is also disadvantages in respect of complication control and excessive consumption of time. This certainly deteriorates operation efficiency of the glue application mechanism.